Man identified as Bitcoin creator denies involvement

LOS ANGELES - A man named as being the enigmatic creator of Bitcoin on Thursday denied having a role in the virtual currency, telling reporters he was not involved.

In an exclusive report, Newsweek identified a 64-year-old Japanese-American physicist as being the mysterious person known as "Satoshi Nakamoto" behind the Bitcoin revolution.

However the man, who told the Associated Press news agency his name is Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto, told reporters outside his modest two-story house in suburban Los Angeles: "I'm not involved in Bitcoin."

Since its 2009 launch, the Bitcoin phenomenon has been hailed as a financial revolution, despite scandals over its use in drug trafficking and money laundering.

Nakamoto, who was pursued by a media pack as he drove off for an interview at the AP's offices, told the agency that the first time he heard of Bitcoin was when his son told him he had been contacted by a Newsweek reporter three weeks ago.

He said he phoned police when the magazine's reporter knocked on his door.

While acknowledging that some of the biographical details in the Newsweek report were true, Nakamoto denied its claim that he was "the face behind Bitcoin."

But Newsweek stood by its story, saying his career involved classified work as a systems engineer for the US government and that he initially tacitly acknowledged his role in creating the crypto-currency that has rocked the banking world.